Website Evaluation

www.thedogisland.com

WHO?

Has someone taken responsibility for the content of this Web site?
- After clicking the "contact us" tab, I finally found some names. It says that Xiao Min and Han Fei are the founders. It also lists names of positions on The Dog Island. All of their e-mails have the same domain name, and the descriptions are irrelevant and just talks about their love of dogs.

Can you contact the company or author through a real world postal address or phone number?
- No. The only way to contact any member of the website is through their personal e-mails. Are there any links to in-depth information about the author or organization?
- No. Just e-mails and a very short bio.
WHAT?

Does the site rely on loaded language or broad, unsubstantiated statements?
- Yes. Multiple times the website says that they "can't offer this to poor people because it's expensice" and that they are funded by "rich people with big hearts."Does the site clearly state the topics that it intends to address?
-No. It has topics but then never addresses them. In the "directions" section it gives absurd reasons why they can't give their exact location and ridiculous directions that involve marking your way with red tape on doors. Also, in the "rates" section, they don't even mention any rates.

Is emotion used as a means of persuasion?-Yes. They subtly try to make you feel guilty about keeping your dog "cooped up" and say that the right thing to do to make your dog happy is to send it there.

WHEN?

Is it important that the information you're looking for be absolutely current?
- Yes, but on this website, everything is misleading

Is a reference date provided to show when the material was put online, or when it was last updated?
-No. There are no dates at all. "Visit" dates are given but just the month and day, no year.

Do the links work?
- The links take you to other pages on the same domain name.



Upon further investigation I discovered this:

"The Dog Island site is a hoax playing on western revulsion of Asian dog-eating practices, and its creators deliberately used names identical to those of persons and companies in China who process dogs for human consumption (for example, the "Dawn Fine Bred Dog Center" of which Dog Island is supposedly a subsidiary, the city of Pexian, and the name "Han Fei" are all references to the Dawn Fine Bred Meat Dog Center, a commercial operation in China where dogs are raised for meat), similar to a stunt once pulled by notorious prankster Joey Skaggs."
This is according to snopes.com